The United States’ journey to victory at the FIBA U19 World Championships was punctuated by a lob pass inside the final 30 seconds from Elfrid Payton to Montrezl Harrell, which Harrell slammed through the goal with the sort of force that seemed designed to show that American basketball power has not faded in the least.

When the trials began in Colorado Springs for the U.S. team, Payton was a late addition from Louisiana-Lafayette who was barely known outside the Sun Belt Conference. Harrell had been a key reserve, but still a reserve, for Louisville’s national championship team.

They were among the stars of Sunday evening’s 82-68 victory over Serbia in Prague. Harrell led the U.S. with 17 points and 4 blocked shots. Payton scored 9 points and led the team with 6 assists and 5 essential steals.

There were plenty of heroes for the Americans, who did not lose a game in the tournament and only once—against this same Serbia team in the final game of the second round—were held to a single-digit victory margin.

Washington-bound point guard Nigel Williams-Goss again took charge of the offense when All-America guard Marcus Smart encountered minor final trouble, and Goss scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.

Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon got the U.S. off to a great start with two first-half 3-pointers and scored 12 points.

Arizona forward Aaron Gordon scored 6 points and got 6 rebounds and was part of the defense-first outfit that took control of the game in the fourth quarter. The U.S. leading scorer, he was named the MVP of the tournament.

Smart scored 11 points and bothered the Serbians with his physical play. Chicago high school senior Jahlil Okafor of Whitney Young made all three of his shots from the field. In nine games, Okafor missed only 13 shots. He tried 57. He joined Gordon on the All-Tournament team.

The victory gave the U.S. the U19 World title for only the second time since 1995. It also meant the Americans now hold the FIBA world titles at every men’s age group: U17, U19, senior and Olympics.

It was no surprise the game was tight until late. Serbia’s outstanding point guard Vasilje Micic had scored 24 in the first meeting and figured to be a tough challenge again. His clever play bothered the U.S. in the first half. Even though the defense held down his scoring, he passed for 10 assists and helped set up wing Jovan Novak for five 3-pointers and 21 points on the night.

Struggling to defend Serbia’s pick-and-roll offense, particularly with key defenders Smart, Justise Winslow and Gordon resting with two fouls each, the US led by only two points at the half, 40-38.

The U.S. picked up a huge break in the third period, though, when Micic committed a third personal foul. With the game close, his coaches chose to rest him. The U.S. didn't really punish that as it might have, but was able to keep its lead and build it to 8 points when Smart converted an offensive rebound with 2:56 left.

It was only a four-point game early in the final quarter when Serbia's Nikola Milutinov was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on a muscular Smart drive. Smart made one of the two free throws, and Gordon and Payton executed a pretty give-and-go that resulted in a Payton layup that stretched the U.S. lead to 60-53.

Coach Billy Donovan went with his best defensive group at that point, hoping that some fourth-quarter pressure would undo a wearying Serbia backcourt. He’d also made an essential change in his pick-and-roll defense, going with a more athletic inside game and choosing to switch pick-and-rolls involving Micic.

This particularly worked when Harrell was defending the big man and was moved onto Micic. The traps that were helping to set up Novak and Nikola Jokic for open 3-pointers were gone, and instead Micic was having to create against a defender with overwhelming strength and astonishing length. Micic took only four shots in the game and scored 13.

Payton was the key to the success of the fourth-quarter defensive burst, picking up a steal off a bad pass by Novak and feeding Gordon for a ridiculous one-handed lob dunk that pushed the lead into double digits for the first time at 64-53. It was a matter of finishing intelligently then, and the Americans did.

Their reward was to stand on the highest elevation of the medal stand and listen to the Star Spangled Banner, then to accept the trophy presented to the world champion. Smart got his hands on it first, but everyone had a piece in the end.